Terri Thomas

Biography

Born in Detroit, Michigan

A lifelong interest in art became the grounds for Thomas’ pursuit of a career in the fashion industry. Over time she became progressively more concerned with the commoditization of beauty, the industry’s emphasis on physical perfection and society’s obsession with achieving this standard. Soon she was unable to decipher if her work in fashion was empowering or if it was contributing to a growing contemporary problem.

In 2001, Terri decided to give up her 15-year career in fashion and pursue an art degree. She graduated from Washington DC’s Corcoran College of Art & Design with honors in 2004. Influenced by the work of artists like Cindy Sherman, Douglas Gordon, Jenny Saville, Marc Quinn,  Jeff Koons and Vanessa Beecroft, Terri’s work with large-scale, cinematic painting, sculpture, photography and video challenges preconceptions about beauty, femininity, sexuality and mortality, and explores how the utopian promises of the media both feed and reconcile anxieties about the self.

    “As a twin I grew up feeling a disparity between who I was in contrast to the societal expectations created by the media’s over-sexualized, stereotyped and iconic portrayals of the “Double.”   Combined with a background in the fashion industry, I became interested in how we are conditioned to desire, identify with and be informed by the media and cultural fascination.

    Through performing desire/gender, portrait paintings, sculpture and video that reference art history, mythology and consumerism, my work is autobiographical and explores notions of Otherness, Desire and Mortality.”   -Artist, Terri Thomas

Her work has been shown in multiple group and solo exhibitions throughout the country.  The artist is represented by Lyons Wier Gallery on W. 24th Street in Chelsea, NY and currently lives and works in Austin, Texas.
Image 01 Image 03